BBE Sound revolutionized professional audio with its Sonic Maximizer technology, which restores the harmonic richness that is typically lost in the recording process. The company aims to do the same for consumer audio with its new VG360 Sonic Maximizer.

Dean Guitars has introduced a series of signature models for Trivium guitarists Matt Heafy and Corey Beaulieu.

Matt Heafy Model (MKH) The MKH Signature model is based on the ML Series guitar, originally designed and introduced by Dean Zelinsky in 1977. The MKH has a 24-fret neck, not seen on a Dean ML for quite some time, a 12-inch-radius fingerboard and a newly designed sculpted tapered heel for clear access to the upper frets.

The frets are medium round crown allowing better intonation at blazing speeds. The neck is solid maple construction with an ebony fingerboard and is joined via set neck design at the 19th fret for better tone transference and continuity.

The body is a solid mahogany ML shape featuring the Rising Sun graphics, paying homage to Heafy’s Japanese heritage. The neck features a pearl inlay Trivium logo at the 12th fret. The headstock features Grover black 14:1 tuners, the Trivium logo, the Dean Wing logo and MKH on the truss rod cover.

Divided by 13’s new RSA 31c combo is a hand-built, single-channel 1x12 combo that combines performance and tone in a portable package. The RSA 31c is EL84 powered and delivers 31 watts of Class AB1 power through its 12-inch speaker.

No more information available at this time, but watch the company's website and here for updates.

Blackheart Engineering’s new BH100H Hothead is a full-featured 100-watt workhorse amp head design for plug-and-play ease and versatile tone. It has two power modes (Class AB and Class A), each of which is divisible by pentode (full-power) and triode (half-power) operation to create four powerful voices:

Class AB/Pentode: 100 watts of unhinged power

Class AB/Triode: 50 watts, tighter headroom, crisper gain

Class A/Pentode: 60 watt, plenty of headroom, nice and plucky

Class A/Triode: 30 watts, less headroom, more responsive to attack

The Hothead has two channels — Loud and F’n Loud — each selectable by a mini toggle on the faceplate or remotely via the included footswitch, and each voiced through its own dedicated EQ section.

The Loud channel is voiced to range from crisp cleans to classic rock and heavy blues tones. Its controls include drive, level, treble, middle and bass.

The F’n Loud channel is voiced to capture classic crunch to sweet overdriven lead tones, all shapeable via pots for gain, level, treble, middle and bass.

Boss has announced the addition of two new pedals for its effects line: the SL-20 Slicer and DD-7 Digital Delay.

The SL-20 is a twin pedal that transforms guitars, vocals and other instruments into pulsating groove instruments. It has 50 onboard slice patterns with adjustable attack and duration, including an innovative Harmonic Slicer feature that generates percussive melodies.

The Sl-20 features tap tempo, external MIDI clock sync, a variety of output modes (including 3-D panning), and control of sound characteristics such as attack, duration, level, and direct level. An onboard looper allows the processed audio to be recorded and looped in real-time and then performed over.

The DD-7 Digital Delay expands upon the features of its predecessors with new types of delay, including modulation delay, classic modeled analog delay, expanded delay time and more.

The DD-7 has up to 6.4 seconds of delay time — a marked increase from its predecessor, the DD-6—and offers up to 40 seconds of sound-on-sound recording in Hold mode. Its Modulation mode offers unique chorus-type sounds, and its Analog Delay mode models the warm classic sound of the Boss DM-2. Users can also control tap tempo, delay time, feedback, and effect level via an optional external footswitch or expression pedal.

The DD-7’s stereo output enables the creation of spatial audio sweeps via true stereo panning. The stereo outputs can also be used to create separate dry and wet signal paths — convenient for recording and live performance control.

So you’ve released an all-tube 15-watt amp head the size of a lunch pail, and it becomes a monster hit, selling more than 10 thousand units in just 18 months. What do you do for an encore?

The chaps at Orange figure a 1x12 combo version should do the trick. The new Tiny Terror combo combines the Brit company’s Tiny Terror head with a Celestion 30-watt G12H speaker. Both reside inside a very tidy-looking cabinet reminiscent of Orange’s Seventies-era OTR combos.

According to Orange, the Tiny Terror combo was developed following sustained demand for it from guitarists, studios and even journalists (as if anyone listens to them). Like the Tiny Terror head, it puts out 15 watts RMS of Class A power (7 watts RMS Class A with the half-power switch engaged) and has controls for gain, tone and volume. Two 12AX7 tubes reside in the preamp, while a pair of EL84s go to work in the power amp.

Akai Professional has relaunched its consumer website with a new interface that makes finding products easier than before.

Visitors to www.AkaiPro.com will find product-specific pages that contain all the details, features, videos, FAQs and support for each of the company’s products.

A navigation tree lets users locate products by category, then model. Once a product is selected, images, documents and downloads, tech specs, FAQs, key features, videos and an overview provide all the information needed.

Other new features include product reviews, an events calendar that tells where Akai Pro products can be seen in action, and a news section with current press releases and Akai Pro news stories.